Catachresis
by Aminatsu032
Summary: Look at me with that same, familiar tenderness in your eyes. - SasuSaku
1. pag-sisisi

**Blanket Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

When Uchiha Sasuke returned to Konoha, he half-expected things to be the same. He half-expected that Naruto would always be the jolly friend whom he'd have senseless bickering with every-so-often. He half-expected Kakashi to sill be reading that same old, same old stupid orange book he always read and he half-expected Sakura to look at him with the same tenderness in her jade eyes - like he'd always be the one she'll ever love; like she'd always, _always _be there for him.

But, of course, a part of Sasuke still knew he was leading himself into a delusion. And that part - the rational part of him - reminded him _every minute of every day _that all this was his fault anyway. While Naruto was still the same idiot he was then, he was as strong as, if not stronger, than Sasuke was. While Kakashi read through his volume, he watched at him with one wary eye. And while Sakura looked at him whenever she told him something - or when she just _wanted _to look at him - he knew that the sad gaze she gave him was a far cry from how she looked at him then.

Oh, but Uchiha Sasuke liked lying to himself.

He told himself that he didn't care and that it was okay. He told himself that he wasn't going to be the least affected of the things he'd noticed. After all, he was used to feeling alone.

* * *

**. . catachresis - **_repentance_

* * *

When he and Naruto got back from a mission, the first thing they did was head to the hospital to see Sakura about their injuries. Or, at least, that was what Naruto did; Sasuke couldn't really do anything because Naruto already dragged him to it.

As they entered the hospital lobby, Sasuke immediately noticed the number of injured people - ninjas _and _civilians - crammed up in the lobby. It seemed that the reason there were so many civilians injured was that a construction site by the market didn't do enough precaution from accidents. The ninjas... well, it looked like they, too, had just come by from a mission and were waiting to be treated by the medics.

Sasuke expected that he and Naruto would sit with the people waiting, so he was surprised when Naruto just by-passed them and waved to the first medic he saw.

"Sakura-chan here?" the blond asked.

The medic looked at him and Naruto warily. "She is...but I don't think it's okay to be seeing her right now." She glanced at the glaring people by the lobby, this time.

Naruto waved her off and started walking towards Sakura's office again. "It's okay, she knows we're coming."

Sasuke was about to scold his friend for his brash behavior, but he'd already opened the door to Sakura's office and Sasuke instantaneously felt his brain go mush.

Sakura was across the room, looking at the both of them with one pink eyebrow raised, dressed in her medical attire, her pastel pink hair tied up in a messy bun.

Sasuke swallowed.

"Can I help you?" she inquired, her tone betraying nothing, but Sasuke could see the glint of amusement in her eyes as she spoke.

"Aw, Sakura-chan! We just got back from a mission and that's all you say?" Naruto pouted, walking nonetheless towards the pink-haired medic. Sasuke reluctantly followed.

Sakura crossed her arms at her chest and stood up, glaring pointedly at the blonde. "You know, for once, you should try waiting in line before you get medical care. You take having me as a medic for granted _all _the time."

Naruto grinned, raising both his arms and resting his palms at the back of his head. "What are friends for, right?" he quipped.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but beckoned Naruto to sit down anyways, beginning her healing procedure.

For a moment, Sasuke felt like he didn't exist. It was her and Naruto talking all the time, it was like he wasn't there -

"All done!"

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!"

- until Sakura's jade eyes met his.

"You're next, Sasuke-kun."

_Sasuke-kun._

Why did she even call him that when it was so obvious that the suffix didn't hold any form of endearment she had for him then?

In a gruff voice, Sasuke answered. "I'm fine. I don't need medical attention."

Sakura blinked a couple of times before raising her eyebrow again. "Really." Her assurance didn't sound at all like a question.

Sasuke noticed the way her eyes deadpanned that she didn't believe him. He noticed the small frown on her pink lips and wondered what it would be like to kiss her, hold her, caress her flawless skin, to make her squirm underneath him -

"Yes," Sasuke answered stiffly before looking away. He had enough interaction with Sakura for today.

Sakura studied him for a moment, before walking right in front of him, but never once breaking her inquisitive gaze.

"You're really fine?" she asked.

"Aa."

- to see the blush on her cheeks as screams his name _over_ and _over_ and _over_ and _over_ -

Something poked his side.

Sasuke flinched.

"So... having two broken ribs is fine, huh?"

Sasuke glared at her in time to see the sardonic grin plastered on her face and he wondered if she'd ever use that expression on him if they were still their twelve-year-old selves.

"Teme, stop being an ass and just let her heal you so that you can get this over with," Naruto said, an amused expression on his face.

Sasuke ignored his best friend's comment and scowled at the woman before him. "I don't need your help, Sakura," he said. "I don't want you healing me."

And because he was looking directly at her eyes, he immediately saw the hardening of her expression. Sasuke immediately realized his mistake.

"I've trained on becoming a medic for _years, _Sasuke. I've trained under the Godaime herself. I don't need you labeling me as weak," she snapped, shoving Sasuke's one arm behind him and healing his injury.

Sasuke said nothing, and continued to watch his ex-team mate's green chakra soothe his pain away. When she was done, she looked up at him again, with the same impassive expression. Surprisingly, Naruto said nothing, too.

"I thought by now you've already realized that I'm not the same useless little girl I was back then," she continued, before going back behind her desk and going through her files

_That wasn't what I meant, _he wanted to say, but didn't. Not when Naruto reluctantly thanked her and bid her goodbye. Not when Naruto half-dragged him out of her office. Not when Naruto scolded him for having a "stick up his ass so far that it had already damaged his brain". Not then, not ever.

Nobody, but Uchiha Sasuke himself, knew that when he said he was fine, he meant his injuries were nothing compared to the injuries of the people waiting on the lobby. Nobody knew that when he said he didn't need her help, he meant that others needed her more and that she should attend to _them _and not waste chakra to somebody who has hurt her so much, _so_, _so_ _much, _but she cared about nonetheless. Nobody knew that when he said he didn't want her healing, he meant that he didn't want it because he didn't deserve it because she was _so good _that being in her mere presence was already privilege.

Nobody knew.

And so in the eyes of everybody else, he would always be the cold-hearted bastard who left Sakura - the girl who loved him _with all her heart _and would do _anything for him _- alone that night on a cold, stone bench.

* * *

**A/N. **Thoughts on Naruto 605: WAAAAHOOOOOOWOOOOAWWWWWHHHOW WWW


	2. pag-asa

On the days that followed, they acted like nothing had happened. They - Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, (sometimes Sai and Yamato came, too) and Sasuke - were eating at Ichiraku's again after Naruto's persistent pleas, and were talking (at least, Naruto and Sakura were) like nothing out of the ordinary happened two days before.

To an outsider's eye, it would look like the usual Team Seven lunch date, with Naruto breathing in his ramen like it was air, while he and Sakura would occasionally engage in an animated conversation, with Kakashi reading his porno, his an empty bowl before him (Sasuke still wondered how he did it without anyone of them seeing his face), and with Sasuke's usual aloofness. Nobody, but the members of the actual team would notice the hesitance in Naruto's words as he thought of another topic, after avoiding the previous. Nobody would notice Sakura's clenching and unclenching fists. Nobody would notice that Kakashi had been reading the same page for the past hour. And absolutely _nobody _would notice the faltering of Sasuke's high and mighty stance.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Naruto said, putting down his chopsticks sloppily on the table. "Tsunade-obaa-chan wants to us to be at a mission briefing this afternoon."

"A mission?" Sakura asked, one eyebrow raised. Even Sasuke peered at Naruto curiously at the corner of his eye. "With who?"

"Us..." Naruto trailed off, suddenly avoiding eye contact. Somehow, Sasuke figured out where this was going. "Y'know... you, me and teme..."

Sasuke noticed Sakura visibly stiffen.

"She specifically asked for us?" she asked, her voice sounding hardened.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and continued to look away. "Remember when I said I pestered her about giving us more missions together? Well, she decided to heed my request _now,_ so..."

"Alright then. I'll see you guys later," Sakura said, slapping some money at the counter before she stood up and started walking away.

It took all Sasuke had to stop himself from grabbing her wrist and pulling her back to where she was seated - beside him.

* * *

** ) ) **_h o p e_

* * *

"Your mission is on the Land of Swamps," Tsunade said, reading from the scroll in her hands. "It has been reported that a number of rogue ninja was staying along the border, and that they have been tampering with our trade since early this year." Amber eyes looked at each of the three before the Hokage continued. "Your mission is to put a stop to them through whatever means necessary. Understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the three said in unison.

The godaime rolled the scroll again before handing it over to their general direction.

"The leader for this mission," Tsunade added, "is you, Sakura."

Both boys looked at their only female teammate as she took the scroll from the Hokage with practiced confidence.

"You have been at the Land of Iron before, and I trust that you know everything you need to know about the place," the Godaime said.

Sakura nodded once, securing the scroll on her pocket. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Very well." Tsunade twined her fingers together and rested her elbows on her desk, a habit that Sasuke also did. "You are dismissed. You are expected to leave tomorrow morning."

.

"That's so awesome, Sakura-chan! You get to be the leader for this mission!" Naruto said enthusiastically as they exited the Hokage tower.

"I've been to several medical missions there before, so I know quite a lot of people and places." Sakura shrugged, her brows knitted together as if in thought.

Typical Sakura - she was already thinking about their mission and the places they were going to stay at, their route -

Sensing Sasuke's gaze, Sakura turned to him.

"Anything you want to say?" she asked, her face betraying nothing.

Sasuke looked away. "No."

Sakura's green eyes narrowed and she stopped walking. "If you have any objections about me being this team's leader, then say it while you still can," Sakura snapped, her expression hard and unwavering.

Sasuke returned her look with the same intensity.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan! I'm sure Teme doesn't think that!" Naruto flailed his arms up in the air, trying to get both his friends' attentions. "Right, Sasuke-teme?"

They stayed like that for a moment - glaring, staring, finding out whom, amongst the two of them, would look away first...

...and in the end it had been Sasuke.

"I'm going home," Sasuke announced walking away.

He could still feel the challenging look in her eyes staring at his back.

_Look at me!_

Sasuke continued walking.

_Look. At. Me!_

He told himself that he should continue walking.

_LOOK AT ME!_

But his body did not listen.

And when he turned around again and saw her jade eyes, he remembered the things he didn't want - _never wanted -_ to remember.

_"I love you with all my heart, Sasuke-kun!"_

.

It had been approximately three hours since the three of them had left Konoha, and they were approximately two days away from the Land of Swamps. The sun was already at its peak and the heat was beginning to slow them down, so Sakura decided that they take a break near a river.

"Naruto, can you lay down the supplies for me?" Sakura asked, poking at her bag for her water canteen. "And, Sasuke, would you mind filling up the canteens with water?"

Frankly, Sasuke was a bit shocked that she even bothered talking to him.

"Aa," Sasuke said, implying that he didn't mind, and took the water canteens from her.

That was weird. Sasuke could've sworn he'd be receiving nothing but silent treatment from her the whole trip, but he'd been wrong. He was relieved that Sakura was talking to him normal now, he guessed, but he couldn't help but wonder if that was for the mission or by some outwardly force, she decided to forgive him.

Sasuke thought the former seemed more believable.

The Uchiha had been so lost in thought that he didn't notice his pink-haired teammate come up behind him with another bottle.

"Hey," she said.

Sasuke stiffened, but immediately recovered. Had he really been _that _distracted?

Sasuke nodded once at her general direction and continued to fill the canteens with water.

Sakura settled herself beside him.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you yesterday," she said, sighing softly. "I was out of line, I guess."

Sasuke paused and blinked. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You're not..." he began, slowly, weighing his words, studying if she was could to take what he said the wrong way or not, "...angry?"

Sasuke thought when he said that last word that he sounded like a cringing child.

"No," Sakura said automatically; Sasuke sent a dubious look at her.

"Well I guess I _was, _but..." He could barely make out the faint blush on her cheeks, but he saw it nonetheless. What was she so embarrassed about?

Sakura sighed and stood up, her water canteen filled up. Sasuke strained his hearing to catch the words she had said before walking away.

"I could never _really _be angry at you, Sasuke."

* * *

**A/N: **Your positive comments make me tear up in joy. Do review, please.


	3. pag-ibig

It was an ambush.

The rogue ninja knew they were coming, and they had them outnumbered. Right now, the battle was sixty on three.

However, Sasuke thought, this could never really be called a disadvantage.

Because when the rogue ninja had their powers in numbers, Team Seven simply had _power._

* * *

_**catachresis: **love.  
_

* * *

Sakura was injured. Sasuke repeated the fact in his head like a mantra.

_Sakura was injured. She's hurt, she's hurt, she's hurt, she's hurt -_

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?!" Naruto asked with alert eyes as he hovered around the pink-haired medic.

"I'm fine, Naruto," she answered, already beginning to heal the wide gash on her left leg. Sasuke felt a strong wave of relief wash over him as he saw the green chakra closing up her wound.

"Are you sure? I'm sorry I didn't get to you right away -"

"I'm fine, really," Sakura said, raising her head to look at him. She was smiling, but to Sasuke's eyes her smile looked rather strained. Perhaps she had been exhausted from their fight...

-_ she's okay. She's going to be fine -_

Sasuke clenched his fists. He couldn't believe this. How could he not have noticed one of their enemies come up behind her with a poisoned kunai? Sakura got out of the way in time to avoid getting hit at her back, but not fast enough to avoid getting hit period.

"You shouldn't have been so careless. What if you hadn't gotten away in time?" Sasuke hissed, glaring at his teammate.

Sakura abruptly turned to glare back at him. "But I did, didn't I, Sasuke?"

"You should have let us done all the fighting," the Uchiha snapped.

"What, because I'm more of a liability than an asset?" She was on her feet now. Sasuke told himself that he shouldn't push her any further back and let her rest; that he shouldn't glare back and provoke her, but he just couldn't help himself.

He was just so _angry. _Angry at himself for not having to the strength to come to her in time, angry at the rouge ninja who was cowardly enough to attempt to stab a girl at the back, angry that he couldn't do anything to help her, just... _angry._

"Hey, Sakura-chan, just ignore Sasuke-teme," Naruto said in a slightly-panicked voice as he put a hand on her shoulder. "He's just being his usual pissy self!"

Sakura shrugged Naruto's hand off of her shoulder, eyes still on Sasuke's. "I'm not weak, Sasuke. How long will it take you to realize that I'm perfectly _capable _of being a ninja?" she sneered; Sasuke said nothing.

He did. He knew. He knew what she could do, but he just couldn't help but worry about her, about his teammate, about the only girl in his life that mattered -

"Forget it," Sakura dismissed, turning around and walking away. Sasuke couldn't help but notice the slight limp in the way she was walking.

From how it looked, Naruto noticed it, too. "Hey, Sakura-chan, maybe you should rest for a bit first..."

But Sakura just ignored him and continued to walk away. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back," she dismissed.

* * *

Konoha was approximately one and a half mile away and Sasuke could notice the sweat on Sakura's face and the paleness of her lips. She seemed to be walking with more difficulty now. Naruto was looking at her warily.

"Sakura-chan, I think we should stop for a bi-"

"Konoha's just up ahead, Naruto. It would be useless to stop now," Sakura answered so easily, that if you didn't see how she was currently struggling, you wouldn't notice how much the damage on her body was.

The gash had stopped bleeding, but even to Sasuke's eyes it still looked half-healed. It was angry-red and he could see the dried blood that clung to her skin.

Sasuke's obsidian eyes narrowed. This girl was just too proud and too stubborn for her own good.

In one swift motion, Sasuke scooped Sakura unto his arms. Sakura stared up at him with wide eyes and Naruto looked at him, equally surprised.

"I'm carrying you home," he said, his tone final. But, of course, Sakura attempted to struggle out of his grasp.

"Put me down, Sasuke! I'm fine! It's just a short walk away -"

"Naruto, we're going ahead," Sasuke said, completely ignoring the complaining girl in his arms.

Naruto looked at his best friend warily, but he must have seen something in his friend's eyes that made him agree.

The blond nodded once. "Okay then. You better not drop her, Teme!" he grinned.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded back.

"Stop talking about "her" like she's not here! Put me down, Sasuke! I can walk on my own!" But again, her retorts were ignored while Sasuke performed a teleportation jutsu.

* * *

Sakura scoffed and folded her arms gruffly as Sasuke gently sat her down on her couch.

"You should heal your injury again," Sasuke said, walking towards the direction of her kitchen. He took a clean piece of cloth from one of her drawers and dampened it with water from the faucet.

When Sasuke returned to her living room, he was happy to see that Sakura's injury had been fully healed.

Sasuke knelt down on the floor in front of her and started wiping off the dried blood stuck on her knee.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked hesitantly. He had seen her visibly stiffen at the action, but he paid no heed and continued.

"You shouldn't have forced yourself to walk in such a state," he said, his hand moving downwards, wiping more of the dried blood on her leg.

Sakura huffed. "I could still walk, you know," she said softly, a hint of melancholy present in her voice.

"Stop saying you can, when you can't," Sasuke snapped, his eyes immediately meeting hers.

Sakura's jade-green eyes narrowed. "Stop saying I can't, when I can," she said back.

Sasuke's jaw hardened. "I never said you couldn't."

"You just did." Sakura rolled her eyes.

"No, I mean I've never said it before," Sasuke snapped irritably, gripping the cloth in his hands tightly.

They were back to staring at each other again, Sasuke noticed. And he had been the first to break the stare, again. Sasuke stood up, the bloody cloth still in his hands.

Sasuke took a few steps towards the kitchen before stopping and turning his head back to the pink-haired medic who was still staring at the space on the floor that he had occupied.

"I don't think you're weak, Sakura," he said in a low voice. "But sometimes you push yourself too far." _I worry, _were the words left unsaid. But from the look in Sakura's face, he realized he must've understood what he meant. He began heading to her kitchen again.

He was washing blood out the cloth when he felt her prescience behind him.

"Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke turned the faucet off, dropped the cloth down the sink and turned around to face her with his arms crossed.

"I..." Sakura began, looking around warily, as if lost with words. "I'm sorry for always getting angry. I know you're just concerned but..." She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. Sasuke realized how relatively small she was, compared to him. "I just don't like feeling weak around you. It makes me feel undeserving."

_Of what?_

Sasuke frowned. If it was among the two of them, Sasuke knew he deserved to feel more undeserving than she did.

Sakura pursed her lips and shifted. "Hey," she said, "say something, will you?"

Sasuke looked down on her again. And then he saw it. He saw the too-familiar tenderness in her eyes, the look he had memorized at the back of his mind... the way she was looking at him now... was so much like how she looked at him _then_.

_Do you still...?_

"Do I still what?"

Sasuke blinked. He hadn't even realized that he said it out loud.

He swallowed. "What you said before I left," he answered reluctantly, feeling his palms begin to sweat. "Do you still mean it?"

An expression of shock crossed Sakura's face. She hadn't expected that question. After a long, agonizing moment, her expression softened.

"Sasuke..." she said slowly, tentatively, as if she was talking to a child.

Sasuke closed his eyes. He should have expected this answer. He shouldn't have asked. He shouldn't have -

"...I never, ever, _ever _stopped."

Uchiha Sasuke's eyes snapped open. He looked at her again - her tender eyes, her sunny smile, _her. _And then he realized...

_"I love you with all my heart, Sasuke-kun!"_

...he never, ever, _ever _stopped loving her either.

**fin.**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

My friend and I were talking through dinner and I mentioned about my stories. He said, he could give my some SasuSaku prompts, and I said "Go help yourself."

And so he did, and here's the summary of the ideas he gave me.

1. Being childhood friends who don't recognize each other through their adolescence and falling in love...

2. Romance under the sea... (Like mermaids? I guffawed at this.)

3. The theory of the fork and the spoon... (I still don't know what the hell he means by this, though.)

So I raised my eyebrow at him and told him he was a frustrated "imaginator" (if there was such a word). Hehehe...

Sooo... Chapter titles. They mean, _redemption, hope _and _love _respectively_. _I liked the idea of using a different language to write them down.

I originally planned this to be a oneshot, but God knows how long I'd take to finish it, so I went around and made it a three-shot instead. Or maybe I should call it a multi-chapter fic, instead of a three-shot. Or maybe not.

I'm so confuzzled right now.

Thanks for the reads and reviews and alerts and favs and all. Love much. Mwah.

**"Catachresis"**

**Completed on: October 10, 2012**

**Copyright: Aminatsu032 2012**


End file.
